A question we got recently is “Should I be on Snapchat?” Venturing into a quick visual platform of photos, videos, emojis, and crazy filters can seem quite intimidating.

Thankfully there is more to the platform than making yourself look like a unicorn, however fun that may be. Organizations and businesses use Snapchat to casually connect with their audiences and build their brands through engaging photos and videos. The first question to ask yourself when making your decision is “Who is your audience?”

Snapchat is worth considering if you're interested in going after a younger audience at any point. By far the largest Snapchat age demographic is 18- to 24-year-olds. This age group makes up 37 percent of Snapchat users. Some other interesting demographics are:

College students are more likely to have Snapchat accounts when compared to all 18- to 24-year olds.

Snapchat users have no particular political affiliation: 39 percent of Democrats, 37 percent of Republicans, and 35 percent of independent voters said they had Snapchat accounts.

By the end of this year, Snapchat will have a larger user base in the U.S. than either Twitter or Pinterest.

So your audience IS on Snapchat; now what? Before jumping completely into the platform, you should:

Start thinking about your messaging and how you can communicate that visually. Snapchat relies heavily on sharing photos and videos.

Get comfortable with the platform. Download it, set up your username, and start using the tool to see what it has to offer.

Consider the tone of your messaging. The best way we've heard the channel described is that it's "Friend TV," meaning you are basically tuning in to a friend's life and seeing what the latest is. It's more casual than something like Instagram and is a good platform to experiment with emojis and making clever jokes now and then.

Follow and research what other organizations similar to yours are doing on Snapchat. Use this research to put a strategy together with content ideas for the platform. Then, when you’re ready to start using Snapchat, you have everything you need!

Feeling better about Snapchatting? Whenever you start, remember to get creative! No idea is too outlandish to test. Just note how your audience reacts to your Snaps so you can keep refining your messaging.